Attached are pictures of the seasoned plate, the inaugural pizza and the upskirt shot. Looks like the cheese needed some additional time but I'm not sure the crust would have been happy with 30 more seconds.

scott123

That is stunning, John. Yes, the heat balance is a bit off (you're going to need to incorporate some broiling during the bake), but, looking past the slightly anemic top and slightly dark undercrust, there's a lot of beauty there. Whatever you did with the dough, keep doing it, because the puff on the crumb is indicative of some real dough making skills. Great stretch as well.

Thanks, Craig. The cheese was bubbling pretty intensely when I pulled the pizza out but I was hoping for that mottled look I like so much. This is Restaurant Depot whole milk mozzarella, pre-shredded that has burned on me in the past with longer bakes.

Widespreadpizza, I do have an electric broiler...should I position the plate more highly in the oven?

Scott, thank you. The dough was slightly below 63% hydration with AT flour, 1% sugar, 2% salt, 3% oil and 0.5% IDY. It looked slightly underkneaded when I balled it but it opened easily after a roughly 40 hour cold ferment. Should I play with the oven temp a bit before resorting to the broiler? My oven goes to 550 on both bake and convection bake. I can't wait to eat this tonight! The cornice felt pillowey soft compared to my regular dough baked on a screen.

Thanks, Craig. The cheese was bubbling pretty intensely when I pulled the pizza out but I was hoping for that mottled look I like so much. This is Restaurant Depot whole milk mozzarella, pre-shredded that has burned on me in the past with longer bakes.

Seven, yes move the plate up some, not to high because it gets hard to launch, but high enough 4 to 5 inches from broiler. I would test trying the broiler about 1/2 way through your bake, works about perfect. -Marc

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scott123

John, while I have previously given RD cheese my blessing as being a constituent of the upper echelon of cheese that is the wholesale realm, I don't think you've ever mentioned the pre-shredded part Friends don't let friends use pre-shredded mozzarella

It could be a variety of factors, but I think the general consensus is that the anti-caking starch prevents the cheese from melting as well as non pre-shredded brick. I'll concede that there might be a wholesale cheese with the necessary fat content and meltability to overcome the anti-melting aspects of pre-shredding, but, right now, I haven't come across one. Until I do, either buy RD brick and grate it yourself, or, if you absolutely have to go with grated, go with the inferior cheese workarounds such as drizzling oil or sticking with pepperoni.

You could dial it down to 475, slow down the bottom, and get that extra 30+ seconds of top browning using just convection, and that would put you in the 5ish minute realm (possibly closer to 6), or you could stick to 500, use some intermittent broiling and do 4. Both are good. Convection is a big golden brown contributor, so the 5ish minute bake will be much more golden brown, while the 4 minute bake, with the broiler, will be more contrasty/a little more charred on the top. Both will be great pies.

As Craig pointed out, less cheese is something worth trying. For now, though, I'd really like to see what this quantity of cheese looks like with more color. There's no hyperbole when I say that, with some more top color and golden brown cheese, the pie above could rank in my top 20 favorite NY pies I've ever seen on this forum. Considering the time you've spent here, that's pretty amazing.

That's the look! I've gotten it a few times but usually on longer bakes and wholesale Foremost Farms whole milk cheese. I will try sliced next time I buy block cheese. Thanks again!

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Insert QuoteSeven, yes move the plate up some, not to high because it gets hard to launch, but high enough 4 to 5 inches from broiler. I would test trying the broiler about 1/2 way through your bake, works about perfect. -Marc

John, while I have previously given RD cheese my blessing as being a constituent of the upper echelon of cheese that is the wholesale realm, I don't think you've ever mentioned the pre-shredded part Friends don't let friends use pre-shredded mozzarella

It could be a variety of factors, but I think the general consensus is that the anti-caking starch prevents the cheese from melting as well as non pre-shredded brick. I'll concede that there might be a wholesale cheese with the necessary fat content and meltability to overcome the anti-melting aspects of pre-shredding, but, right now, I haven't come across one. Until I do, either buy RD brick and grate it yourself, or, if you absolutely have to go with grated, go with the inferior cheese workarounds such as drizzling oil or sticking with pepperoni.

You could dial it down to 475, slow down the bottom, and get that extra 30+ seconds of top browning using just convection, and that would put you in the 5ish minute realm (possibly closer to 6), or you could stick to 500, use some intermittent broiling and do 4. Both are good. Convection is a big golden brown contributor, so the 5ish minute bake will be much more golden brown, while the 4 minute bake, with the broiler, will be more contrasty/a little more charred on the top. Both will be great pies.

As Craig pointed out, less cheese is something worth trying. For now, though, I'd really like to see what this quantity of cheese looks like with more color. There's no hyperbole when I say that, with some more top color and golden brown cheese, the pie above could rank in my top 20 favorite NY pies I've ever seen on this forum. Considering the time you've spent here, that's pretty amazing.

Lol, I am a slave to convenience sometimes and shredded can be appealing. I will grab some block cheese next time I go to the depot. I'm also cheap and often buy shredded from BJs when its on sale ;-)

Thanks for the compliment, Scott! My wife and I had reheated slices for dinner tonight and the pizza was very good! There was a tremendous amount of flavor in the crust even with the low sugar content...my former go to dough had something like 5% honey plus more sugar. This dough tasted clean, fresh and let the sauce and cheese shine.

I'll make some adjustments on my next bake and still try to stay under 5 minutes. I like softer crusts and crispier crusts so I can't go wrong either way.

Had time for a couple more pizzas on the aluminum plate yesterday using dough I made a couple nights earlier. Unfortunately, I still haven't picked up a peel and had to bake on my screens until the crust was cooked enough to be taken off and put directly on the plate (my prior bakes were done on a borrowed peel). The plate was placed higher in the oven this time, oven was preheated to 500 convection which heated the top of the plate to 525. Bake time was an even 5 minutes with the final 2 minutes utilizing the convection roast setting, which turns on the top coils. I'm pretty confident that I can get a 4 minute bake using this system. Toppings consist of various dry cured meats I had in the fridge, along with pre-shredded whole milk mozzarella that was bought on sale at BJs

scott123

*Making the sign of the cross* Get behind me shredded sale cheese, get behind me!

Seriously, though, as you can see, the fat from the pepperoni works wonders for the cheese (along with some more top heat).

Any upskirt shots? As much I normally have issues with the bake time extending aspects of screens, I'd like to see how screens fare with aluminum plate- in hopes that they might have some kind of tempering effect on the intensity of the bottom heat.

You HAVE to be happy with that pie. There's no way that your non aluminum plate 5% honey pie could come close to this, right?

LOL, Scott...in 16 years of Catholic school, I don't recall the nuns ever saying that prayer!

I didn't take any upskirts but I will try tonight. The bottom was actually very, very pale before I put the pie directly on the plate for the final 30+ seconds. So pale, in fact, that I don't think I could have eaten it. If an under 5 minute bake is the goal, I would avoid use of a screen unless you plan on finishing directly on the plate.

I'm VERY happy with this pie, much more than my 1st attempt due to the more properly browned top. Neither my wife nor I miss the "honey pie", although I will probably continue to use that recipe for my Sicilian pies until I can experiment more. Speaking of my better half, her father & brother owned a pretty successful pizzeria in Chester County, PA for quite a few years and all of them are advocates of toppings under the cheese (you may need to say another prayer ). Here is the pizza she made this weekend with a dry cured salami and some blue cheese. This was also a 5 minute bake with 2 minutes of top heat...cheese held up pretty well despite being a pre-shred. Sorry for the blurriness.